Have him help you repair it. He will learn early and quickly the value of it. My son cut into the side of a new ottoman my father purchased. He was not happy. My dad caught my son trying to fix it with tape. My dad just happened to be in a very good mood because he realized he really wasn't happy with the ottoman. It was heavy and had to be moved everytime he wanted to use it. Dad got the glue out and made my son hold the fabric in place (fingers out of the way) til the glue set. It was a quick setting glue but basically Dad had him hold the fabric in place for about 10-15 minutes. He never touched that again. He did take my watch apart though with nail clippers. No fixing that he was about 6-7 then.